


Leon Knightley and the Handsome Prince

by Clea2011



Series: Leon Knightley [3]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Humour, M/M, virginfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-24
Updated: 2014-05-24
Packaged: 2018-01-26 09:00:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1682555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Clea2011/pseuds/Clea2011
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Following the Valentine's Day disaster, Leon was feeling just a little bit guilty.  But Gwaine's soon back to his normal self.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Leon Knightley and the Handsome Prince

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Русский available: [Леон Найтли и прекрасный принц](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6470707) by [Anna_Karenina](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anna_Karenina/pseuds/Anna_Karenina)



> Written for the Trope Bingo Square 'Virginfic'. Thanks to Celeste9 for the enthusiastic cheering and beta.
> 
> There will be a fourth story in the series soon-ish.

Gwaine was quiet for the whole day on February 15th.

This was largely down to the amount of alcohol he'd consumed the previous night, and Leon would normally have taken it gratefully. However, Leon was feeling a tiny, tiny bit guilty. Even if he hadn't realised Gwaine actually meant them to have a date (and he still wasn't convinced that was the case and that it wasn't just an elaborate hoax that would simply have resulted in humiliation for him), he still felt bad that his roommate had sat in a restaurant alone for so long, waiting for him.

On February 16th Gwaine had recovered from his awesome hangover and spent the whole day in their room. He played loud music, ordered in really, really smelly food, and hung out of the window chain-smoking. In other words, he was back to normal.

Leon no longer felt even remotely guilty.  In fact, he thought as he sprayed his side of the room with air freshener, he hoped Gwaine had felt horrible in the restaurant, alone, surrounded by happy couples. And he hoped that the next time Gwaine got drunk and hungover he'd have another headache and all that swishy, perfect hair that still kept shedding all over everything in their room would fall out as a result. That would serve him right.

Much later, when Leon got back from his classes, his precious collection of knight figurines were all in pornographic positions again. Gwaine, though, was nowhere to be seen.

Leon counted it a small blessing.

\---

Many weeks passed without too many incidents. Gwaine didn't burn the room down, make any further passes or go completely bald. In turn, Leon didn't kill Gwaine. It was a happy compromise.

Then came the Spring Fayre.

Gwaine was rather well known around campus. He was known in the student bar because... well, he was always in there, always loud, always drunk and always the first to do anything outrageous. He was well known in the nurse's office because many of his outrageous behaviours would result in some form of (so far, sadly, only minor) injury. He was well known on the sports field because despite his inherent laziness he was apparently still good at football. And he was known in the student union office because he visited regularly, usually to complain that one of his appalling social suggestions hadn't been taken up as an event. Leon knew they were appalling because Gwaine liked to run them past him first. If he pulled what Gwaine called his 'OMG face' then the suggestion was taken straight down to the union office. And normally it was promptly thrown out because the union reps were generally quite sensible sorts.

But somehow, his suggestion for the Spring Fayre got taken up.

It was the very, very worst suggestion Gwaine had ever made. Leon couldn't believe that those stupid union reps had actually even listened to him, let alone accepted it. But, sure enough when the publicity leaflets went round it was right there as an event. He did wonder if Gwaine had deliberately misled them as to his event's intentions...

'SAVE A VIRGIN WEEK - contact Gwaine Greene for assistance'

Leon wondered just how very low someone would have to stoop before they took Gwaine up on that one?

As Gwaine was in their room, every single evening, it would appear that the answer was lower than any of the current inhabitants of campus were willing to stoop. Which was a shame, because it would have given Leon a nice, quiet, undisturbed night. Or possibly not, because he wouldn't put it past Gwaine to bring the person he was _saving_ back with him.

Leon was a virgin.

That wasn't something that particularly bothered him, as he had been brought up to believe that virginity was a precious thing, only to be shared with the very deserving. That took Gwaine out of the running immediately.

No, Leon had some very definite views on what sort of man would get the honour, and also some excellent ideas on the quality of the accompanying bedlinen, the style of the (obviously four-poster) bed, and the colour and freshness of the rose petals that would be scattered across the sheets. Nothing short of an extremely handsome noble, preferably a prince, would do for Leon.

Luckily there was an actual prince studying at Camelot University. A real, flesh and blood prince of the realm. And Prince Arthur was, so far as everyone could see, completely unattached. The gossip magazines and trashier papers would have been all over the story if he wasn't. It was meant to be.

Leon hadn't actually spoken to Arthur yet, but that didn't matter. He knew that at some point their paths would cross. Arthur's royal blood would probably sing with joy at finding his perfect match right there amongst all the commoners. And then Leon would be able to tell him that he was the second born son of a Lord, and that there was no taint in his pedigree. He could produce an impeccable family tree. Arthur would no doubt be relieved and delighted. After all, Arthur had to play football with the likes of Gwaine.

He wondered what it would feel like to have a consort's crown placed on his head.

Gwaine threw a trainer at his head instead.

"Oi! Knightley! Stop daydreaming, take that big stick out of your arse and come to the student bar with me.”

Leon rubbed his head and glared at Gwaine. It had no effect.

Leon most definitely did _not_ want to go to the bar with Gwaine. He'd gone once, because Leon was very polite and anyway Gwaine had absolutely _begged_. It had turned out that Gwaine had placed a bet with Lance that he could get Leon down to the bar. Leon suspected that there were further wagers based on how very drunk Gwaine could make him, and probably others about what Gwaine could make him do once he was drunk enough. He didn't stay around long enough to find out.

"Another bet?" he asked.

"No!   It's Save a Virgin Night. I organised it... well, I thought up the idea anyway. I can hardly turn up without one."

"The only person I, and anyone else pure of heart, needs saving from is you, Gwaine Greene." Leon pointedly opened his book and started pretending to read.

"You only have to say the word," Gwaine grinned, waggling his eyebrows suggestively.

God, Leon hated rooming with Gwaine.

"The whole football team are going. Lance, Percival... Arthur..."

" _Prince_ Arthur?"

"Yep. Poor bloke gets followed around by bodyguards all the time. He can't go out on the pull. If tonight's a success I'll probably get knighted for services to the crown jewels one day!"

Leon doubted it. Still, Prince Arthur. And looking for a partner.

Perhaps Leon would go with Gwaine after all, just for a few minutes.

\---

The student bar was very, very crowded.

That was nothing new, it was one of the many reasons Leon didn't like going in there. Another reason was the way that the tables were never really clean, the lipstick smears that were invariably still on the glasses, and the way his shoes tended to stick to the carpet. Arthur would probably be glad to be rescued from such horrors, being brought up in a palace and everything.

Except Arthur didn't actually look as if he wanted to be rescued.

Arthur was _standing_ on the bar (ON the bar! Where they served drinks! In his shoes! So very unhygienic...) together with Percival and some scruffy, skinny kid that Leon had never seen before. They were singing tunelessly along to some horrible, horrible song that someone had put on. The skinny kid looked completely fed up, and quite unimpressed with the great honour that he was being shown by the prince. Twice he tried to get down, but Arthur seemed to be holding onto him quite firmly.

It was, Leon thought, very noble of Arthur to behave in such a manner. Doubtless he was trying to show that he wasn't too proud to associate with commoners. What fine tales the scrawny student would have to tell his grandchildren about this night, when the prince had shown such admirable condescension, and treated him almost as if they were equals or something.

Gwaine gave a loud whoop of delight and jumped up there on the bar beside them. The scruffy student actually rolled his eyes at that point. Leon did feel a certain empathy, but his eyes widened with horror as Gwaine high-fived the prince.

Really, Gwaine should be sent to the tower for over-familiarity. It would have the added benefit of getting him away from Leon, and that Leon would then have the room to himself. Which would be excellent timing given that his meeting with Arthur was only moments away.

"Knightley! Get up here!"

Leon wasn't sure which was worse - being spoken to by Gwaine in public so that people realised that they knew each other, or the idea of getting up on top of the bar. And _singing._ It was so undignified.

"Absolutely not," he told Gwaine firmly. "And you should get down too."

He was suddenly aware that Percival, the skinny kid and _Arthur_ had stopped singing and were all looking at him.

"Is this your roommate, Gwaine?" Arthur asked.

Leon wasn't entirely sure that was how he wished to be introduced to his future spouse. "Leon Knightley at your service, your royal highness."

For some reason Arthur didn't look very pleased by that. Leon would have thought that anyone bothering to respect him with his correct title would have been met with pleased gratitude. Especially given that the scruffy skinny kid under Arthur's arm muttered something insulting about royal fanboys and made another break for freedom whilst Arthur was distracted. This time he succeeded, slithered down off the bar and stood beside Leon looking disapprovingly up at the other three.

"The only highness about you is when you stand up on that bar," the scruffy kid pointed out. He was, Leon thought, probably going to join Gwaine in the tower.

"You'll pay for that, _Mer_ -lin," Arthur growled. He jumped down off the bar, causing Leon to gasp with concern that his royal legs might be harmed. Arthur seemed fine, which was a shame in many ways because if he'd suffered a minor injury then Leon could have shown off his excellent first aid skills. Arthur would have been sure to appreciate that.

"He doesn't like being reminded he's a royal while he's here," Gwaine whispered. "Just call him Arthur. He hates titles and formality." Despite that fact, apparently the 'standing on the bar and behaving like an arsehole' game was over by royal decree and both Percival and Gwaine had climbed down after Arthur. Like a prince and his knights, Leon thought fondly, though he wasn't sure why anyone would ever want Gwaine in that role.

Fortunately, that appeared to be the end of the singing. Percival found a free booth and they all squeezed in. Being crushed up close to the prince was very pleasant, although it did mean that Leon was also squashed up against Gwaine as well. And in a disturbing turn of events he found that Arthur apparently liked drinking almost as much as Gwaine did.

Leon could forgive it in the prince, he was probably just trying to fit in with the others. He couldn't possibly actually _like_ the multi-coloured shots Gwaine lined up in front of them, and he was probably just trying not to lose face in front of his future subjects when he told Merlin to go and get some more. And Merlin was rude, telling him he wasn't his servant and to get them himself. Definitely a candidate for the tower. Leon helpfully saw his opportunity to squeeze past the prince and go and fetch a round of sambuca. The fact that this actually stunned Gwaine into silence was worth the horror a moment later when Arthur set all the shots alight and expected them to drink it.

Leon eyed the little glass dubiously. It was no wonder Gwaine was always burning down curtains and things if this was the kind of thing he drank.

"Blow it out first," Gwaine hissed at him.

Well. Leon knew that. Of course he did. It wasn't as if he was about to do something stupid like drink the shot while it was still on fire. He'd only lifted it up to examine it. Really.

The evening was, if Leon were honest, a bit of a disappointment. Had he not known Arthur was the crown prince (because his mother had tea towels and cups and things with Arthur's face on) then he would have taken him for just another ill-bred student. He acted the part exceptionally well.

Percival had gone off to the bar again, and Leon was thinking about leaving them all to it. It was past his bedtime anyway. He'd forgotten all about Gwaine's stupid theme night. Arthur hadn't.

"So, how many saves have you had reported so far?" he asked. It took Leon a moment to remember what the prince was talking about. Merlin was doing that eye-rolling thing again. Leon thought he might actually like him, if only he weren't so obviously yet another student who was only there to bolster the university's state school intake.

"None. It's depressing."

"It's depressing you two even think you have a chance," Merlin said, pushing past Gwaine and heading off towards the toilets.

"Feisty!" Gwaine called after him.

"In your dreams, Greene!"

Gwaine just shrugged, and turned back to the others. "Thought at least _you_ might've made a save," he told Arthur.

Arthur smirked back at him. "The night is young! Watch and learn!"

It was nearly eleven. That wasn't what Leon would call young. Still, they didn't have any classes in the morning. And he could always write his essay a little later in the day than usual. Arthur, despite his peculiarities, was still the crown prince and apparently he was still on the pull...

And he'd vanished in the short time it had taken Leon to check his watch. No, not vanished, he was heading across the dance floor. Probably off looking for a partner, Leon realised. It was an opportunity that he couldn't really let pass, not if he wanted to become Prince Consort one day. He turned to the only person remaining at the table with him.

"We should dance."

It was, he realised a moment too late, completely the wrong thing to say to Gwaine. Gwaine's face lit up with a wolfish grin that was almost predatory.

"Thought you'd never ask!"

Leon hated Gwaine, he really did.

"I don't mean together!"

Gwaine raised an eyebrow. "Opposite ends of the room?"

Actually, that was quite an appealing idea. Still, Gwaine looked almost hurt, and Leon still felt a bit guilty about the Valentine incident, so he shook his head. He didn't want Gwaine repeating any stories to the press in years to come, when Leon was a famous and successful politician, about how he'd behaved towards his roommate from darkest...wherever it was that Gwaine came from.

"Just not _together_ ," Leon told him. "Not like _that_."

"Your loss," Gwaine replied. Leon was quite sure that it wasn't. Gwaine smelled far too strongly of Lynx that evening, which wasn't attractive _at all_. No. And he probably bought condoms and lube from Asda, and they were probably rash-inducing, and... no, not Leon's loss at all.

To say that Gwaine's dance moves were interesting was an understatement. There was a lot of arm-pointing, and posturing, and a great deal of arse-shaking. Really, it wasn't so very surprising that Gwaine was currently single, Leon thought as he swayed in a dignified and restrained manner beside him.

Arthur was nowhere to be seen again. Given the spectacle Gwaine was making of himself, that wasn't a great shock. He'd probably gone back to his room in disgust. Leon thought he might do the same, particularly when Gwaine accidently elbowed him for the third time.

The song finished, which gave him an excuse to leave. Percival was still over by the bar, so it wasn't as if he was leaving Gwaine on his own. Besides, someone had just spilled their drink on the floor and it was probably a health and safety risk continuing to dance there.

Gwaine just waved at him when he said he was leaving. Or it might have been part of the strange flailing dance thing, Leon wasn't sure. He beat a hasty retreat, glad to get outside. The corridor beyond wasn't very well lit, but Leon didn't care. It was a short cut back to the room and he took it, pausing only at the doorway to one of the deserted lecture halls. There was someone in there.

The hall should have been locked, so they'd probably broken in. Leon had half a mind to report them for it or at the very least he should tell them off. He went to push the door open, then stopped, staring through the little glass panel into the darkened room beyond. He couldn't be sure... but yes, it was definitely the crown prince, on his knees, giving service to one of his subjects. Really good service, if the wrecked expression on Merlin's face was anything to go by.

Leon stepped back quickly, and almost tripped over Gwaine.

"Are you following me?"

Gwaine shrugged, peered past him through the window, grinned, and steered them both away quickly.

"So, is that your stupid event's first save?" Leon asked a little tetchily. Somehow this was all probably Gwaine's fault.

"I doubt it, I've had my suspicions about those two for ages. Don't let Merlin's protests about his royal pratliness fool you, those two are meant to be. Merlin's a princess-in-waiting if there ever was one."

The disappointment, and, frankly, shock (because really? Merlin?) must have shown on his face, because Gwaine paused for a moment. "Oh. You had hopes for a crown? Well," he slapped Leon on the back. "Never mind. We all want things we can't have. And, if it helps, my Save a Virgin night's been a complete washout. Come on back to the bar, have a drink. It helps."

Leon should have known that it really, really wouldn't.

\---

There were five really bad things about waking up the morning after a night of heavy drinking.

One was the fact that it was very, very bright in their room. Someone, and that was probably Gwaine, had forgotten to close the cheap, machine-washable curtains from Asda and the sun was shining in. Leon wanted to get up and shut them, but his body didn't seem to want to let him.

The second thing was his head, which felt as if someone had taken a sledgehammer to his skull. There was a horrible, horrible taste in his mouth and everything ached. Everything. Even places that didn't normally ache.

The third thing was the memory loss. He couldn't actually remember anything about the previous night after Gwaine had brought out another tray of flaming sambuca and insisted that the pair of them drink the lot. It was proof that drink was evil. And that Gwaine was, too.

The fourth thing was that Leon could see his bed. It was on the other side of the room, pristine and empty. There were clothes strewn all over the floor, both on his side of the room and Gwaine's. Hideously messy.

The final and most awful thing of all was that _he_ was on Gwaine's side of the room. In Gwaine's bed. Naked.

With Gwaine sprawled out in the bed beside him. He was naked too. And there was a box of condoms on the bedside cabinet, open. They were, of course, Asda's finest. Gwaine, apparently, had made a save after all.

Leon shuddered and closed his eyes again. Perhaps if he went back to sleep it might turn out to be a bad dream. A bad dream that still reeked heavily of Lynx, and felt very warm and comfortable beside him. A bad dream that was rolling over to snuggle closer and snog him senseless. A bad dream that was reaching down to stroke him to hardness alarmingly quickly.

It would of course be horrible manners to retreat to his own bed, and he didn't think he could anyway. It wasn't that he enjoyed it. Not at all. Because, well, it was _Gwaine!_ Gwaine, who was the son of goodness knows who, and came from who knew where, and who had come back the previous day with a carrier bag full of junk from Poundland. Gwaine, who smelled so good and felt so wonderful and...

Leon knew he was in deep, deep trouble.

 

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Leon Knightley and the Handsome Prince](https://archiveofourown.org/works/4405073) by [Vodka112](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vodka112/pseuds/Vodka112)




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